Electronic Arts Doesn’t Have a Bright Outlook for the Holiday Season

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts’s revenue forecast for the key holiday-shopping quarter was slightly below analysts’ estimates, amid expectations of heavy competition from other games releasing around the same time.

EA forecast adjusted revenue of about $2.04 billion for the current quarter, at the start of which it launched the highly anticipated Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 shooter games.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $2.08 billion, according to Thomson Reuters tri.

FIFA 17, the newest version of EA’s top-selling soccer franchise, debuted at the end of September, towards the end of the second quarter, pushing about $75 million in digital revenue to the third quarter.

Sales from EA’s digital business rose 12.7% to about $566 million in the second quarter.

The company said its loss for the period narrowed to $38 million, or 13 cents per share, from $140 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Starting from the latest quarter, EA has stopped reporting non-GAAP measures that adjust for deferred revenue, as it has done since fiscal 2008, to comply with stricter guidelines by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts’s revenue forecast for the key holiday-shopping quarter was slightly below analysts’ estimates, amid expectations of heavy competition from other games releasing around the same time.

EA forecast adjusted revenue of about $2.04 billion for the current quarter, at the start of which it launched the highly anticipated Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 shooter games.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $2.08 billion, according to Thomson Reuters tri.

FIFA 17, the newest version of EA’s top-selling soccer franchise, debuted at the end of September, towards the end of the second quarter, pushing about $75 million in digital revenue to the third quarter.

Sales from EA’s digital business rose 12.7% to about $566 million in the second quarter.

The company said its loss for the period narrowed to $38 million, or 13 cents per share, from $140 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Starting from the latest quarter, EA has stopped reporting non-GAAP measures that adjust for deferred revenue, as it has done since fiscal 2008, to comply with stricter guidelines by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.